Angela Merkel Supports Partial Burka And Niqab Ban In Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw support behind a partial ban on burkas and niqabs in Germany on Tuesday, drawing applause from the audience.

“The full-face veil is not acceptable in our country,” she told crowds at a conference of her Christian Democratic Union party in Essen, Germany. “It should be banned, wherever it is legally possible. Our law takes precedence over codes of honor, tribal or family rules, and over sharia law – that has to be spelled out clearly. This also means that it is important to show face when people communicate.”

On Tuesday, Merkel won reelection as chairwoman of the CDU party, a position she has held since 2000. She is gearing up to run for a fourth term as chancellor in 2017.

Can you imagine Merkel had been talking for FOURTY SIX minutes and her first cheer from he audience was the announcement of a burka ban.🙃

German interior minister Thomas de Maizière hinted that the ban was coming in August.

The full-face veil “doesn’t fit in with our open society,” he told reporters. “To show one’s face is crucial for communicating, for living together in our society and keeping it together. In the areas where it serves a function to show one’s face, we want to make it a rule . . . and this means whoever breaks it must feel the consequences.”

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ilhan-omar-elected-to-minnesota-legislature_us_58228c5be4b0aac624882078">Ilhan Omar</a> was born in Somalia and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12 after spending four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. On Nov. 8, she became the first Somali-American Muslim woman elected to a state legislature, with a <a href="http://www.startribune.com/ilhan-omar-will-be-nation-s-first-somali-american-legislator/400478961/" target="_blank">victory in Minnesota</a>.&nbsp;The 34-year-old campaigned on a progressive platform, advocating for affordable college, criminal justice reform, economic equality and clean energy.<br><br>&ldquo;It is the land of liberty and justice for all, but we have to work for it,&rdquo; Omar <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pccc-candidates-2016-election_us_5813b435e4b0990edc3143d7">told The Huffington Post</a>&nbsp;in October. &ldquo;Our democracy is great, but it&rsquo;s fragile. It&rsquo;s come through a lot of progress, and we need to continue that progress to make it actually &lsquo;justice for all.&rsquo;&rdquo;